‘I tried to clean the wound…’ the dragon began to explain.
‘And no one helped you, and it didn’t occur to you that it’s better not to let yourself lose large amounts of blood?’ It was hard to tell whether there was sarcasm in the parthir’s voice, or perhaps genuine dismay.
‘Well. . . You shouldn’t, but that’s. . .’
‘Have you seen how much blood there is on the ground?’
Draco looked around and had to admit that a sizeable pool had indeed formed around him; some of it had already begun to dry, whilst the rest had seeped deeper into the gravel. The reptile had to admit that, by his standards, or by dragon standards in general, it wasn’t quite that bad yet, but by human standards it didn’t look good. Even setting that aside, his priority should be to staunch the bleeding, and only then to clean the wound under more suitable conditions.
‘Well?’ Parthir urged him.
‘I can see that,’ Draco finally admitted. ‘I should have dealt with this first.’
‘Hindsight, but it’s good that you understand.’ Noah seemed satisfied with the answer, and his earlier, somewhat aggressive tone had softened considerably. ‘Let’s get moving at last. I hope the spring and its immediate surroundings haven’t been altered too much,’ he said more quietly, as if speaking more to himself.
‘Everyone’s had a rest, so let’s get going,’ Cedric ordered, and they all began marching in the indicated direction.
It took them a few minutes to make their way through the rubble, this time walking cautiously, on the lookout for unexpected drops or other hazards in the terrain. Throughout this time, Noah and Eric stayed close to the dragon, keeping an eye on him to make sure he was all right. Draco wasn’t used to this sort of behaviour, so he felt a little uneasy.
Ahead lay a few trees and bushes, which parthir cleared from their path, whilst Zane once again disappeared somewhere ahead, presumably checking that there was no one in front of them. After a while, they emerged into a sizeable clearing, somewhat
